


strength

by itotoro



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Comfort, Comfort fic, F/F, Just gals bein pals, pre-comeback season
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27432268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itotoro/pseuds/itotoro
Summary: strength is found in surprising placesheechuu character study
Relationships: Jeon Heejin/Kim Jiwoo | Chuu
Kudos: 59
Collections: #GGFLASHFIC





	strength

Heejin plops down on the practice room floor, legs outstretched, chest heaving. She visualizes the routine once, twice, before it leave her mind for good.

It's midnight. The floor is cool against her palms, her shins where the coldness seeps through her leggings. Cold is good for aching muscles, so she stretches her toes towards herself, then away. Activating those calves muscles so heavily used in the past few hours.

Exhaustion sinks on her shoulders, down her arms. The room lights are only half open, the cold lulling her to relaxation. She should stand up, walk to her room. But her room is ten minutes and two floors away, and the practice room is quiet, relaxing.

Heejin is too tired to pull herself up. She lays down, feels the cold floor on her upper back. If she heads upstairs, she will have to shower before tucking herself in. She could sleep. Right now. The routine was the exact kind of challenging she needed, and their schedule was definitely going to pile up in the coming weeks. No regrets, even if she is bone-tired and awake past her bedtime.

She rests in the dim lights of the practice room. Just five minutes, then she'll head upstairs. Her shoulders relax, breathing evens out. Sleepy.

Then the lights of the practice room flicker to life. Too bright!

Heejin sits up, ab muscles complaining, eyebrows furrowing with effort. She almost fell asleep. With effort she turns to the door behind her, not bothering to get off the floor.

Jiwoo. Her hair is down, peach hoodie dwarfing her frame. She stands in the doorway with her feet in baby-blue socks slipped into rubber slippers hiding beneath oversized strawberry pajamas. "Knew you'd be here," she says in a voice too chirpy for midnight, smile too bright for falling asleep. She closes the door behind her before making her way to Heejin.

Heejin groans before laying back down, arms stretching overhead. The floor feels warmer with the sudden company. "Five minutes."

"You already had five minutes!" Jiwoo crouches to pinch Heejin's fingertips, finding purchase before tugging her arms off the floor. There's a hint of mirth in her whining. "You were going to fall asleep again, I'm sure of it."

"Maybe." Heejin looks up at Jiwoo, sees the way her long hair falls over her shoulders, framing her face. Her lips tuck into a smug smile.

Jiwoo tugs her fingers again, and there's something remarkable in the way her laugh is both frustration and amusement. "Your back hurt last time," she says as she wiggles Heejin's arms by the fingers, "and Jungeun found you on the floor that morning with a pool of drool by your cheek."

That was embarrassing. Heejin sits up again, muscles not as sore. Her fingertips keep their hold onto Jiwoo's warm ones. "Carry me."

Jiwoo, despite her height and her slim frame, can probably wrestle a bull with her bare hands. Her smile shifts to something warmer than jest. "Stand up first."

Heejin lets go of Jiwoo's hands to push herself off the ground. Her muscles had begun to fall asleep; she wobbles before Jiwoo catches her elbows, pulling her close.

Wordlessly Jiwoo turns, pulling Heejin's arms around her shoulders before hoisting her up for a piggy-back ride. The first few times Heejin tried this she was afraid of being too heavy, but Jiwoo was an athlete before she was an idol. There's no buckling of knees or catching of footing as Jiwoo rests Heejin on the upper part of her back, no scrambling when strong hands tuck themselves under Heejin's knees.

"You stink!" Jiwoo complains without complaining. "You shouldn't fall asleep with a wet shirt, you might get sick." Her shoulders are slim and wiry, waist narrow. Where in her body does she hide the strength to carry anything above ten pounds?

Heejin pulls tighter around Jiwoo's shoulders, letting her head rest. "You're supposed to be asleep too, you know."

Jiwoo begins to walk. "I had a hunch." Her left arm lets go of Heejin's leg, reaching up for the panel of light switches. One flick comes after another, until the room is all dark. "I don't like you sleeping on the floor." The warm hand finds Heejin's leg, pulling it up, pulling her closer.

"I would have gone up," says Heejin.

"I can feel that you're tired," says Jiwoo. "Rest on me."

Heejin takes a slow, deep breath. "Okay." It's easy to let Jiwoo lift her up like this, because Heejin knows that she is strong enough to do so.

Jiwoo carries her through the doorway. There's a shift in the temperature, the cooler fall air seeping through open windows. "What's the routine tonight?"

Heejin's wet shirt clings to her back . "Mix of dancehall and core exercises. I sent you a vid the other day."

Jiwoo makes a whistling noise. "Awesome. No wonder you can't even stand up." She pulls Heejin up higher on her back, speeds up her pace. "It's getting cold. You're amazing, though, doing so much extra work."

"Not really amazing."

Jiwoo's back is warm through the cotton hoodie. "That kind of night?"

"Yeah."

Two flights of stairs pass in minutes, but at each second the tired thumping in Heejin's chest presses so closely to Jiwoo's back, the weight of the upward climb obvious. "I can walk the rest of the way, you know."

"I want to spoil you." There's a hard edge in Jiwoo's voice that Heejin recognizes as concern. "You don't let people spoil you enough."

They've had this conversation before: How Heejin is strong for carrying herself for so long, how hard it is for her to trust that others are strong enough to do the same.

But Jiwoo is strong, deceptively strong. Perceptive and also sincere. They make it to the top of the stairs.

Heejin sinks more of her weight on Jiwoo. "Do you think we'll do well this comeback?"

Jiwoo's hold is steady as they walk along the hallway, the door of their dormitory at the end of the corridor. "We'll do our best," says Jiwoo, "as we always do."

"What if it's not enough?"

Jiwoo harrumphs through the doorway. It brings warmth to Heejin's cheeks. "It will be enough." The tone of Jiwoo's voice could be mistaken for shallow optimism, but Heejin recognizes the undercurrent of determination.

Heejin wants it to be enough. It's why she tries so hard in the first place.

Jiwoo tries just as hard, if not more.

"It will be enough," Jiwoo repeats, "because we're working on this together."

Jiwoo is strong, and she lifts the weight off of Heejin's shoulders.

Heejin closes her eyes, breathing slowing to a steady rhythm. Jiwoo's warmth seeps into her skin.

"Don't fall asleep," says Jiwoo, "you still need to shower!" She jostles Heejin awake.

They are at the door of her room.

Heejin sighs, pressing her cheek to the side of Jiwoo's head. "Can I just change my clothes and call it a day?"

Jiwoo hums before crouching, setting Heejin's feet gently on the floor before letting go. She catches Heejin's hands, steadying her balance. "We can cuddle if you shower."

Heejin leans forward, rests her head on Jiwoo's shoulder. It's warm. "Cuddle in the shower?" Her head is lolling, knees ready to buckle.

Jiwoo giggles a "no" before pulling her inside.

**Author's Note:**

> happy 20th heechuu fic!
> 
> seriously. we need more. i don't usually go here but 19 fics is too few


End file.
